Obama talks race and governing

9/2/12 1:52 PM EDT

President Obama, in an interview with Parade Magazine, said that being the nation's first black president makes him more "attuned" to the country's sometimes difficult history and more determined to level the playing field for struggling Americans.

Asked by Parade how being black has affected his ability to govern, Obama said: "I’m sure it makes me more determined in assuring that everybody’s getting a fair shot—in the same way that being a father of two daughters makes me want to make sure that every woman is getting equal pay for equal work, ’cause I don’t want my daughters treated differently than somebody else’s sons."

"By virtue of being African-American, I’m attuned to how throughout this country’s ­history there have been times when folks have been locked out of opportunity, and because of the hard work of people of all races, slowly those doors opened to more and more people," Obama said.

"Equal opportunity doesn’t just happen on its own; it happens because we’re vigilant about it. But part of this is not just because we’re African-American—it’s also because Michelle and I were born into pretty modest means. And so I think about my single mom and what it was like to go to school and work at the same time. And I think about Michelle’s dad, who had a disability and was working every day and didn’t have a lot of money to spare," Obama said.

Obama has never been comfortable defining his presidency in explicitly racial terms — telling the magazine Black Enterprise that 'I'm not the president of black America' but that he was, in fact, responsible for the entire nation.

But race has always bubbled beneath the surface of the Obama presidency — from his own supporters who believe that Republicans are using coded racial language to disappointed African-American leaders who want the president to focus more specifically on the problems affecting the black community.